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Welcome to my web log Summer is here! The cats are loving the sunny and warm out-door life. Still cool mountain nights, tho, so not too warm for fibering! I'm glad you could drop by for an e-visit. Hope you brought your looms! posted @ 08:58 AM PST link] Wednesday, July 2, 2008A trophy catch! Got this photo from my son with this note: "Took the boat out on the Patuxent river last week end and did some fishing. Here is a sunbaked mug shot of me sporting my trophy catch. Not just anyone can land one of these babies!  "But then he relented and added: "OK, It's not all that bad. I broke out the cast net and caught us a bucket full of those little fishies which we used for bait to catch the fellas below. (A photo of a nice catch of fat catfish!) Who were quite tasty, thank you. : ) We kept nine, which ended up being several pounds of fillets. Tossed back another bunch. We were having fun catching them! The little fellas are Alewives. Damned odd name for a fish! http://www.gma.org/undersea_landscapes/alewives/ "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and the damn lawn will never get mowed!" We're still staying indoors here to keep away from the smoke. it was thick today. We've opened up this evening and are getting a little cool air tho it's not entirely smoke free. Hope you all have an enjoyable and safe 4th! 
posted @ 06:06 PM PST [link] Friday, June 27, 2008The hedge at Hatchet Creek This bank of sweet-peas mounds up a couple feet above the road level. Dunno if that makes it a hedge or not but close enough for me. It caused quite a fervor a few years ago when the new highway foreman ordered mowing right in the prime of the wildflower bloom. It was a pitiful sight and he has not repeated his error!  The community rose in en mass and let him know it was the wrong thing to have done. So now we have our lovely blooming roadsides again and they can still be mowed before (normal) fire season begins. But even this year the road sides are not what is endangering us as lightening rarely strikes sweet-peas in a gulch. But I wish you could see this in 'real life'... it is sooo much more beautiful, as is all this country. Do send up your prayers/thoughts/wishes/vibs... whatever you have... that it continues the same.
posted @ 12:21 PM PST [link] Thursday, June 26, 2008The reading group at the library. I was asked to do a craft project with the kids after their reading group at the library. The subject was bugs so we made a dragonfly. There were 19 of them signed up but I had made up kits before hand and had helpers so things went smoothly and everyone seem to be happy with their critter. This young lady is snipping the extra bits of yarn that tied up her dragon's long tail. It was actually kind of fun and the kids were all well behaved, which made it even nicer. They ranged from preschool to about 11 or so, I'm guessing. I might even do this again. I bought dowels today to make knitting needles for any knitter who shows up for my kids knitting class next week. posted @ 03:11 PM PST [link] Smokey Weather  This is the view from the airport coming into Weaverville. It's really bad over there and this is where they are evacuating people to so it shows what other areas are like. Hiway 299W is closed and we heard rumors or 299E being closed, too. Hiway 36 is also closed as reortedly is Hiway 3 from Douglas City toward Hayfork. Hiway 3 over Scott is still open and in (as far as I know) no danger so there is still a way out of Trinity Country for those who need one. The smoke here is not as bad today but we have another storm on the way this weekend. 
posted @ 03:05 PM PST [link] Monday, June 23, 2008An easy, cheap 'spool' knitter. If the kids get bored this summer give them an empty tp tube or cut a paper towel tube in lengths. Supply a box of good round toothpicks and some yarn. They'll need something to poke holes though the cardboard. The tooth picks might do it. I used an exacto knife but if it comes to that, you'd better do the hole poking. Thread the toothpicks as in the photo, use at least three holes to hold them in place and be sure to put the points inside the tube to avoid stuck fingers. I used the standard 4 but there's no reason they can't do more if they want & can fit them in. I used scissors to cut the top ends blunt and another toothpick to pull the yarn over. Put a clothes pin on the yarn, drop it though and start winding around... you know the rest or Google spool knitting... you'll find more than enough info! This the the basic cheap & easy but you can use stronger stuff and bigger as well. I used bamboo skrewers and a heavier tube and made one to knit mittens on. I've seen them made with an oatmeal box as well. Once the kids get the idea, you make have knitting fanatics on your hands! lol This came up because I promised to teach a kids knitting class this summer. Wish us luck! posted @ 10:03 PM PST [link] Not a Well Rounded Day.  When I went out to go pick up my produce from the local gardener & this is what I found on my car. So I decided to take the old junker if it would start. It did. Got me there but when I got ready to leave... Dead. After a couple tries and a panic call to Himself we found the jumper cables in the back of the Dead One. Tami brought her truck around and after nearly giving up hope we got it started. Whew! Yes, we may be good Mountain Women, as she said, but I ain't changing that darned tire! lol In fact, I doubt these days if I could even get it off as I could in the Olden Days. Not as strong as I was used to be.  Or as determinded! So I have not gone anywhere else today. There is still the old ford pickup but I can barely reach the pedals and the seat is permanently set at Tall Guy! Nothing I need to do that badly. I cleaned house instead. It was in need after the long hectic weekend, anyway. Hope your Monday was sunny and smoke free. Hazel, here in fiery N. CA. 
posted @ 05:08 PM PST [link] Monday, June 16, 2008PinkBear I haven't finished her face yet but she and her accessories are made with the 4" Multi-loom. It's a mohair & wool blend. See the baby Set below. posted @ 04:22 PM PST [link] Multi-looming  I wove this baby set with the Multi after a set in a 1940's pattern book. The yarn is modern...I think I have the correct label. It's TLC Baby Amore`, a chenille type. Very soft and cuddly. I made the set with one skein and have some left. I did use the 4" for most of it but the yoke called for the 2", which I just happened to have as Randy made some for a customer. I knitted the band on the cap as I wanted to know how the yarn did that way, it did fine. So now I'm ready for the next baby who comes along!  Last year I ended with several sets of baby things (I like making them) and donated them at xmas time to a local children's support group. It'll go well with the pink bear! (Check the button!) posted @ 04:19 PM PST [link] Friday, June 13, 2008Fast and Slow art! Today, Friday the 13th, my art partner and I hosted the group with a surprise live model. Peter did a great job for us & found a way to sit still for 30 minutes while we sketched away. The inset is a 2 minute sketch... not too bad for such an awkward angle. Lots of foreshortening. The other is a more finished drawing but I'm going to do a bit more on it. He very kindly gave me permission to photograph him so I still have the model. I think every one enjoyed it. It was one of the quietest art gatherings I've been to... everyone concentrating on their work! Not that we aren't serious about art... it's just that we are a very talkative group as a rule.But anyway... that was my Friday 13th, which proves to me that luck has nothing to do with it! Hope yours went well, too.
posted @ 06:56 PM PST [link] Some quickies  We did some 4 minutes sketches, too. They were fun. posted @ 06:49 PM PST [link] Peter standing  Sitting below him, I had a odd angle and he looks to be 11 feet tall! posted @ 06:48 PM PST [link] Sunday, June 1, 2008My meadow People, including Randy, keep offering to mow my 'lawn' for me but I decline. I don't even call it a lawn. It was a meadow before this cabin was built. In fact, when we first moved in we had tadpoles each spring where it stood water. But they put in drains so that's gone, but I am the one who cares for the place so I choose to only mow twice a year. I have a lovely bunch of rose clover this year and there are ox-eye daisies, English daisies, ajuga, self heal, dandelions, thyme, and oregano escaped from planters. Sage and roses and black-caps around the edges, wild flocks (make that phlox!  ), lungwort, many many grasses and lots of different ferns along the creek edge. There's a little pink flower whose name I don't know but who's face I enjoy, too. And bees & butterflies and other pollinators. The birds were pictured earlier, but there's also hummers, and robins, and grosbeaks, and little ones we hear but hardly ever see. flickers and woodpeckers (including the pileated pair) who we certainly hear! And the doe brings her fawns in the summer. I fence my tomatoes and the rest is open. Well, my point is, I have a lovely yard and I Don't Have To Mow Or Poison anything! If I want a golf course... my poor deluded neighbor has one.
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